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April 3, 2006
Standard Day
Today was a pretty standard day. Get up, go to work, work, go to gym, bike and lift, go home, eat dinner, play with dog, talk with husband, blog, get ready for next day, go to bed. Life couldn't be more exciting.
The weather took a turn for the worse here today with heavy storms throughout the day and now drastically falling temps. It's supposed to be in the 30s tomorrow and snow. Quite the change from 60s, sunny and me riding outside in shorts. April is always kind of crazy like this if I remember correctly though. It's not until May that I feel pretty safe it's going to be at least in the high 40s or low 50s all the time. I'm sure it has before, but I can't remember it snowing in May.
Regardless, the weather was such that it assured I couldn't ride outside today. I knew it was going to get colder but was holding out hope it would still be nice when I was done with work. No such luck - it was storming by that point. So I went to the Pitt gym and rode the bike for 45 minutes, relatively easy. I've been riding a lot more lately and my legs are telling me so. After the bike, I lifted.
My favorite patient is going to die. He's had some major complications and I think it will only be a matter of time. The doctors are trying to convince his family (he does have family to my surprise - they just haven't come to visit him, I suppose maybe they can't) to withdrawl support but they aren't ready for that yet. If they saw him, they probably would withdrawl. I feel very sad for him that he won't ever be at home again with his cows, but I'm hoping his pain will end soon. The situation of withdrawling support, end of life issues, etc... is always a hard one to bear and I know it must be extremely hard to make that decision as a family member. Continuing support when there is virtually no hope of recovery seems so wrong though. Advance directives are extremely important - even though there are certainly ways around them (at least in Pennsylvania), it's very helpful for your family to know how you feel about being maintained on life support. The problem is, docs can't say with 100% certainly that there is absolutely no chance of recovery and even if they say, "I am 99.9% sure that you loved one won't survive this hospital stay", what the family hears is - "yes - there is a chance that mom/dad/aunt Betty/etc will live!"
Whew - how did I manage to get on that topic? What a downer I am! :) But it's something I see often and was thinking about today in regards to my buddy. Hopefully his family will have the strength to make the right decision.
And now it's about time for me to round up the dog and watch some tv, cuddle up in the covers and stay warm (O is out with his friend watching the NCAA final game). Good night!
Posted by beth at April 3, 2006 8:01 PM
Comments
I'm sorry to hear the sad news about your favorite patient. It is extremely important for your family to know what you would want in terms of life support, not only to know, but to have the proper legal documents. There are ways around it, but if you do have it in writing, they really can't fight over it.
April weather really is all over the place. Did you actually end up with snow? They're calling for it here tomorrow.
Blondie
Posted by: Blondie at April 4, 2006 9:13 PM